Buoyed by the turn of events on the political front for the Indo-US nuclear deal, an upbeat Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made it clear that India will go to the IAEA with the safeguards agreement “very soon” and that he did not expect elections before time. He said he had been assured that once India moves the IAEA, the remaining processes will “move fast”.

The PM made these remarks even as the Associated Press, reporting from Vienna, quoted diplomats as saying that the IAEA will hold a board meeting on July 28 to approve the agency’s nuclear rules for India. The diplomats, the report said, demanded anonymity in divulging the date of the meeting because their information was confidential and not yet formally announced by India or the Vienna-based agency.

Speaking to the media on his way to the G8 Summit in Toyako, Singh, on being asked when would his government approach the IAEA, said: “I will tell him (President Bush) that we remain committed to the civil nuclear cooperation agreement. As far as the precise date (on approaching IAEA), I would not like to say it when I am abroad. But we will take a decision very soon. You will hear about it when it is on.”

Not only was he confident of his government surviving the full term, he also said he wasn’t afraid of facing Parliament if there was need to prove his strength on the floor of the House. “We are not afraid of facing Parliament and will cross the bridge when we get to it. We don’t need Mr Advani’s advice on the issue,” he said when he was asked about the BJP leader’s demand that the government should prove its majority.

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